A reader’s thoughts on Sardinian Knotted Embroidery

Last week I received a thoughtful and detailed review of “Sardinian Knotted Embroidery” from Robert.

Here’s what he had to say:

The reasons I love your book:

You bring a new cultural experience to the rest of us. Your sharing of the techniques and patterns helps me appreciate the region and encourages me to learn more about the people.

I very much like the organization of the book. After some history, you start with the projects first and not with the how-to instructions. This encouraged my participation sooner rather than later. When the instructions are listed first, sometimes I feel like I must practice first. The organization of the book encouraged me to jump right in to the first beginner project.

With each project, you indicate what needs to be done and the corresponding page number showing how to do it. Can I mention how helpful this is to a beginner!

Your instructions are very clear as are your photographs. As a visual learner, it has made the learning process easier.

With half of the first project done, I feel very motivated to continue with other projects or to create my own in the future.

Thanks Yvette!

In my correspondence with Robert following his email, I explained why I have put the projects first in my recent books:

My earlier books have the instructions first and then the projects later. Somewhere along the line (actually it was quite recent, with the Portuguese book, I think) I decided that I wanted to have the projects first. My thinking was that it was such beautiful embroidery that I wanted to inspire you all with it, and make you fall in love with it before feeling like you were bogged down in the instructions. I also took my cue for this from craft magazines – they often have the project photos all up the front and then all the instructions buried down the back.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with me, Robert, and for allowing me to share them with others. I am so glad that you’re enjoying working from the book.